"Nick At Night"
Lent A: Face to Face with Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Hello Church!
Have you ever taken a long trip somewhere, and you weren’t exactly sure if you would ever make it there?
I spent six months in Taiwan teaching English and working with a local church there.
Leading up to the day I left to go, I want sure why I was going, if I would be able to handle it, and most importantly, if I would survive!
This was post 911 and things were still pretty crazy for international travel.
I spent 13 hours on an airplane with very few people who spoke English , watching a movie in Chinese with no subtitles and had no idea how to ask for a Pepsi or snack
It was a crazy journey there and back, but I wouldn’t trade a single day of it for anything.
TENSION
Today we are going to see two journeys. These two journeys come together at one point with a meeting of two men face to face, and the results would change the life of one man- no the lives of everyone in the world forever.
TRUTH
The first journey we will look at is Jesus as he begins his journey to the cross.
John 2:23–25 (CSB)
While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.
Jesus was doing many wonderful things - healing, turning water into wine, and it started to gather a following. Many people saw what he was doing and wanted to be a part of it. They wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Jesus knew their hearts and knew that they were following Him on a very superficial level. They only were interested because of the signs that had been going on.
The second journey we are going to see is a man named Nick.
And Nick represents humanity, or “the average person”. He is also an example of what Jesus was talking about at the end of chapter 2. He comes to Jesus based on the signs that Jesus was doing, and Jesus starts him on his own journey, a journey toward faith.
There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”
Nick was a Pharisee, a rabbi, a teacher of the Jews. He was also what we could today consider a senator in the government.
Nick came to Jesus at night. We are not sure if he was afraid of being seen, if he just had a long day at work and got out late, or what exactly is going on, but we do know that the John points out that he came at night.
When Nick approaches Jesus, he offers him flattery, and an an insight into who he feels Jesus is. A good teacher from God.
The way we read the Bible, it feels like Nick comes to Jesus, and then Jesus starts speaking, but I think there was a longer pause before Jesus started. I can see him looking at Nick, and forming the thought in his mind - what does this guy need from me? What is his greatest need?
And Jesus speaks:
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Can you imagine what is going through Nick’s head at this point? He compliments this good teacher, and the teacher just drops something like this on him. Apparently Nick wasn’t there the day that Jesus spoke back in John 1:12-13
12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,
13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
Nick goes on to ask the obvious question:
“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
I am not sure if at this point Nick thinks that Jesus is crazy or what. But if he did think he was losing it, Jesus’s next line would really drive him nuts.
Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
So now we go from weird statement that one must be born again, to an even weirder one with one must be born of water and the spirit, to even enter the kingdom of God!
Can we get any crazier?
I an imagine Jesus looking over at the disciples and winking like “hey watch this” and he says:
Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
I believe Jesus is letting Nick know that he is going to be seeing things that he will not believe. The tiny little miracles that he has seen so far, will be nothing compared to what is coming.
And he is going to start off with a humdinger involving Nick himself and his journey.
He is going to tell him that the Spirit of God can do whatever it pleases, and it can even take someone who is totally unworthy of grace and forgiveness, and forgive them completely of their sins and wash them clean.
This is something that would have really messed with Nick’s law based mind - because he is a Pharisee, a man of the Jewish laws. He believed that one had to earn their salvation from God.
But now, Jesus is telling him that he has to submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading and be born again, or born anew, or from above, all three valid translations.
Nick should know a little about the wind, he would have known what Ecclesiastes says about it and other things, and how God’s ways are not known to humans.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 (CSB)
Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,
or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,
so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.
Yet Nick is so confused and so unsure of what is happening here. Have you ever been there? God is leading you one way, and you are like, whooooooah Jesus- lets stop and talk about just exactly how this is gonna go?
Nick asks:
“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.
Much like Mary, when she is told that she is going to conceive a son through the Holy Spirit.
But this time, the answer is a little harsher.
Jesus almost chastises Nick for doubting and questioning what he has said, but I really can't say that I would have done anything different, can you?
Jesus asks him:
“Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
Again, Jesus is letting Nick know that this is basic stuff. If he doesn't get this, he is definitely not going to grasp what is to come further down the road in his journey.
Jesus then goes on to tell a story that Nick would have been very familiar with. The story of Moses and the Bronze Serpent From Numbers 21:4-8.
Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.
The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”
I think this is important for Nick for two reasons.
Nick is on his own journey, the journey of faith. He may be tempted to get tired and speak against God and Jesus like the Israelites did, and he may even be tempted to give up. Jesus is preparing him for further information that will lead to a transformation in his life, but first he is going to have to get the very basics of faith.
And secondly,
2. Jesus is foreshadowing his death and resurrection. Which is the goal of the journey that he is on. His journey will provide the same effect that the Bronze Snake did. We will see how shortly.
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
Jesus is letting Nick know that he has been there, done that. He has come down from heaven, and knows what needs to be done to bring salvation to the world.
With the bronze serpent, they had to face what was killing them in order to be healed. With salvation, we have to face death with death. Jesus had to die and come through death to defeat death.
Some of them did not look up at the serpent and they died. Event though it was something so simple, something so easy as looking up at it. They made a choice to ignore the directions.
APPLICATION
Now lets take a step away from the story for a minute and lets think about this. One of, if not the key feature of Christianity is the fact that our God sacrificed for us. No other religion has this.
Why in the world would our God do this?
We disobeyed God from the beginning. We have consistently done the exact opposite of what we are asked to do, and yet God still sent his Son to us to be the sacrifice that wipes away our sin.
Why would He do this?
Why would the creator of the world even give us a second thought after the way we turned from Him?
John 3:16–17 (CSB)
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Love. God loves us so much that He was willing to sacrifice His son for us.
1 John 4:10 tells us that even though we are unable to love God, or that we didn't love him first, he still sent his Son for us.
Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Just like Nick, we may not understand everything that is going on in this passage, and the reasons why things had to be this way.
We as humans often think that we are basically good. We think that we can do things on our own and be ok. But God has shown us throughout the bible that since the fall of man back in chapter 2 of Genesis, the second chapter in the Bible, we have failed. We brought sin and judgement into our lives. We are in need of forgiveness and grace.
We sinned and there was a punishment. Rather than making us pay that punishment, God gave us a way out. We can look up to the Son who came to earth, took on our sin, and then defeated sin and death by dying and being resurrected.
It is as simple as looking on him and believing that He died for us, that he died for me.
But that requires faith, and faith is hard for us. We have to learn to trust before we have faith. We have to go on our own journey towards faith.
INSPIRATION/ REFLECTION
We see Nick show up again later in John - and arguably he does a better job supporting Jesus than most of the other disciples. He is a little further along in his faith journey.
Nick shows up in John 7 and stands up for Jesus, asking for a trial.
Nicodemus—the one who came to him previously and who was one of them—said to them, “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”
It is interesting that he speaks of “our law”. He is an expert of the law, and his biggest hurdle is the things “outside of the law”, the things of faith.
Nick also shows up after Jesus’ death.
John 19:39 (CSB)
Nicodemus (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes.
We see a growth in Nick. We see a progression from coming to Jesus in the darkness, to publicly standing up for him in front of his co-workers, to even being associated with him after he is convicted and punished, putting himself in danger and open for persecution.
We see a journey of faith.
A journey that didn't involve Nick really doing anything other than believing. He had to let go of the mentality that he had to do anything to earn salvation. All he had to do was look up to Christ.
This is faith.
Paul writes about faith in Romans Chapter 4.
NEXT STEPS
What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.
Abraham believed God, and he was given God’s righteousness. Nothing was owed to him, it was a gift from God.
God gives that gift even to the ungodly, and its a good thing, because that's us folks.
There is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation.
We rely on our God, who came to earth on a journey. A journey that would lead him to the cross Where he would die for our sins, but on Easter morning, Jesus defeated death and gave us all the ability to look upon him and trust him not only for our salvation from sin and death, but also for the things of daily life.
Psalm 121 gives us a glimpse of this faith in God, this utter dependence on him for everything.
Psalm 121 (CSB)
I lift my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
your Protector will not slumber.
Indeed, the Protector of Israel
does not slumber or sleep.
The Lord protects you;
the Lord is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day
or the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
The Lord will protect your coming and going
both now and forever.
I would like to close the service today with the chance for us all to lift our eyes up to Christ and see the healing that comes with faith In him. It's not anything that we can ever do. We can never earn salvation, or earn his love. We already have it Because of what he has done for us.
He loved us when we were unable to love him.
All we have to do is look up to him and believe.
All we have to do is stand face to face with Jesus, the one who died for our sin and believe.
Lets take a look at ourselves and see if we are following 2 Corinthians 13:5
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.
Are we placing our trust in Jesus?
Are we considering him just a “good teacher”, or are we dedicating our lives to the one who died for us?
Jesus didn't tell Nick to “take one more step closer to faith”. He calls him to be completely born again. To become like a child, where he has to learn everything new, to let go of the path that he was on and start all over again.